Hermiston in the 1940s
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![Depot Workmen](https://northeastoregonnow.com/wp-content/uploads/Depot-workmen.jpg)
At the height of construction, there were more than 7,000 men and woman working in various capacities at the Umatilla Army Depot. (Photo: Library of Congress)
![Igloo Construction](https://northeastoregonnow.com/wp-content/uploads/Igloo-construction-2.jpg)
Construction workers build one of the igloos at the Umatilla Army Depot. In all, there were a total of 1,001 igloos built at the depot base. (Photo: Library of Congress)
![Igloo Construction](https://northeastoregonnow.com/wp-content/uploads/Igloo-construction.jpg)
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers began planning the construction of the Umatilla Ordnance Depot, as it was first known, in the summer of 1940. (Photo: Library of Congress)
![Pouring Concrete into Igloo](https://northeastoregonnow.com/wp-content/uploads/Pouring-concrete-for-igloo-construction.jpg)
Workers pour concrete into one of the igloos being built at the depot. Work on the depot begin in 1940 and wrapped up one year later. (Photo: Library of Congress)
![Working on Igloo](https://northeastoregonnow.com/wp-content/uploads/Working-on-igloo.jpg)
Hermiston was chosen as the depot site because of its rail connections and its interior location, which would make it a more difficult target for enemy aircraft. (Photo: Library of Congress)
![Depot HQ](https://northeastoregonnow.com/wp-content/uploads/Depot-HQ.jpg)
An aerial shot taken by Russell Lee of the Umatilla Army Depot in the early 1940s. The depot stored every kind of munition in the American arsenal. (Photo: Library of Congress)
![Depot Housing](https://northeastoregonnow.com/wp-content/uploads/Depot-Housing-9-1941.jpg)
Housing was scarce in the early 1940s. Tertle Town, where Victory Square Park is now, was home to temporary housing for depot workers. (Photo: Library of Congress)
![Depot Worker Sleeps in Car](https://northeastoregonnow.com/wp-content/uploads/Depot-works-sleeps-in-car.jpg)
Not everyone who came to work in Hermiston had housing to live in. Russell Lee took this photograph of a depot worker who slept in his car. (Photo: Library of Congress)
![Cabin Court](https://northeastoregonnow.com/wp-content/uploads/Cabin-court.jpg)
Cabin court in Hermiston was built in two weeks for workers at the depot. Each unit of one room rented for eight dollars per week. (Photo: Library of Congress)
![Workman Builds House](https://northeastoregonnow.com/wp-content/uploads/Workman-builds-himself-a-house.jpg)
Some of the more industrious men took it upon themselves to build their own homes. Here a depot worker nears completion of his home. (Photo: Library of Congress)
![Converted Woodshed](https://northeastoregonnow.com/wp-content/uploads/Converted-woodshed.jpg)
In other instances, existing buildings were used for housing. Here a depot construction worker is shown in a converted wood shed used as shelter. (Photo: Library of Congress)
![Depot Worker Installs Plumbing](https://northeastoregonnow.com/wp-content/uploads/Depot-worker-installs-plumbing-in-his-house.jpg)
“All the modern amenities.” Here a depot worker installs plumbing in his house. In many instances, however, bathrooms were not included. (Photo: Library of Congress)
![Bakeries](https://northeastoregonnow.com/wp-content/uploads/Bakeries.jpg)
Bakeries, as well as other stores, were doing such a volume of business because of the "boom" that empty cartons and supplies were stored on the streets. (Photo: Library of Congress)
![Supplies](https://northeastoregonnow.com/wp-content/uploads/Supplies.jpg)
To keep up with the demand for goods, trucks were frequently seen bringing in new supplies to keep Hermiston store shelves stocked. (Photo: Library of Congress)
![No Vancancy Signs](https://northeastoregonnow.com/wp-content/uploads/No-Vancancy-signs.jpg)
“No Vacancy” signs were commonplace in Hermiston in the early 1940s as construction at the army depot brought thousands into the town. (Photo: Library of Congress)
![Sleeping in Igloo](https://northeastoregonnow.com/wp-content/uploads/Sleeping-in-igloo.jpg)
More signs of the housing crunch: More than a few workers out at the depot had to make do with sleeping in one of the igloos at the site. (Photo: Library of Congress)
![Depot Road](https://northeastoregonnow.com/wp-content/uploads/Road.jpg)
The rimroad going south from the depot being prepared for oil surfacing. The depot had more than 200 miles of road built and 40 miles of railroad track. (Photo: Library of Congress)
![Trailer Camp](https://northeastoregonnow.com/wp-content/uploads/Trailer-camp.jpg)
Trailer camps began to pop up throughout Hermiston. When housing just wasn’t available, workers and families lived in trailers throughout town. (Photo: Library of Congress)
![Tar Paper](https://northeastoregonnow.com/wp-content/uploads/Tar-paper.jpg)
Those living in Cabin Court prepare for the winter weather by applying tar paper siding on their structures to help keep the wood dry. (Photo: Library of Congress)
![Worker Camp](https://northeastoregonnow.com/wp-content/uploads/Worker-camp.jpg)
Trailer camp with outdoor sanitary facilities. This is typical of camps where workmen at the depot and their families lived during the depot’s construction. (Photo: Library of Congress)
![Housing Tent](https://northeastoregonnow.com/wp-content/uploads/Housing-Tent.jpg)
Tent of a workman and his family at the depot in Hermiston. Tents with a bedspring in them were rented out for two dollars a night. (Photo: Library of Congress)
![Depot Beer Party](https://northeastoregonnow.com/wp-content/uploads/Depot-beer-party.jpg)
Workmen at the depot were given a beer party by the contractor in celebration of pouring concrete for 24 igloos in 24 hours. (Photo: Library of Congress)
![Crowded Schoolhouse](https://northeastoregonnow.com/wp-content/uploads/Crowded-schoolhouse-450x580.jpg)
Students crowd the hallway in Hermiston in the early 1940s. School had to deal with the influx of new students brought on by depot construction jobs. (Photo: Library of Congress)
![Coming out of Post Office](https://northeastoregonnow.com/wp-content/uploads/Coming-out-of-Post-Office-450x580.jpg)
Russell Lee captured this image of a man coming out of the Hermiston Post Office with his arms loaded with packages. (Photo: Library of Congress)
![Depot Family Life](https://northeastoregonnow.com/wp-content/uploads/Depot-family-life.jpg)
A young girl cleans up inside one of the temporary housing units built for construction workers at the Umatilla Army Depot. (Photo: Library of Congress)
![Hermiston School](https://northeastoregonnow.com/wp-content/uploads/Hermiston-School-2.jpg)
A school house in Hermiston around 1941. It didn’t take long for Hermiston to run out of room for all the new students. (Photo: Library of Congress)
A![Hermiston School](https://northeastoregonnow.com/wp-content/uploads/Hermiston-School-5.jpg)
The school board didn't have adequate transportation for all the children of workmen at depot and, consequently, many did not attend school. (Photo: Library of Congress)
![Hermiston School](https://northeastoregonnow.com/wp-content/uploads/Hermiston-School.jpg)
There wasn't enough room for all the students in Hermiston, so many children ended up attending school in the basement of a church. (Photo: Library of Congress)
![](https://northeastoregonnow.com/wp-content/uploads/Hermiston-Post-Office-9-1941.jpg)
Eight hundred people got mail at this post office before the depot boom. During the boom, as many as 12,000 received mail in Hermiston. (Photo: Library of Congress)
![Post office](https://northeastoregonnow.com/wp-content/uploads/Post-Office-parcel-racks.jpg)
When the defense boom started, the post office at Hermiston employed three people. It soon had a workforce of 16 to handle all the mail. (Photo: Library of Congress)
![Woodshed Converted into House](https://northeastoregonnow.com/wp-content/uploads/Half-of-a-woodshed-converted-into-house-450x580.jpg)
A worker at the Umatilla Army Depot in a converted woodshed he shares with another worker. Anything with a roof was used for housing at the time. (Photo: Library of Congress)